The headquarters of the owners of the Kazaa file sharing application, Sharman Networks, were raided this morning by the Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) in Australia. The MIPI are a part of the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA), the Australian equivalent of the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The raids on the Sharman Network offices were part of a wide-spread search for evidence of music piracy, which took place in twelve locations in Australia, and included raids on universities and Internet Service Providers as well as the company Brilliant Digital Entertainment.
The MIPI obtained what is known as an Anton Pilar order, which allows a copyright holder the right to enter and search a premises without having to alert their target through a court order.
Kazaa is one of the worlds foremost and widely used Peer to Peer (P2P) applications, with user numbers ranging in the millions at any one time logged into a global file sharing network.
Sharman Networks had the following to say about the raids in a press release sent out earlier today:
"This action appears to be an extraordinary waste of time, money and resources going over legal ground that has been well and truly covered in the US and Dutch Courts over the past 18 months. This is a knee-jerk reaction by the recording industry to discredit Sharman Networks and the Kazaa software, following a number of recent court decisions around the world that have ruled against the entertainment industry?s agenda to stamp out peer-to-peer technology.
There is no doubt this is a cynical attempt by the industry to disrupt our business, regain lost momentum, and garner publicity. The assertions by plaintiffs are hackneyed and worn out. It is a gross misrepresentation of Sharman?s business to suggest that the company in any way facilitates or encourages copyright infringement.
Sharman bought the Kazaa software two years ago with the express purpose of building it into a legitimate channel for the distribution of licensed, copyright protected content which in turn financially benefits artists. This model has already proven to be successful?"
This isn't the first time that Kazaa has fallen foul of the legal system, with court battles having been fought in both the US and Holland.
We'll keep you posted on further developments as they happen.
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